Sven - if each society looked after the basic needs of its people - and if global society looked after the basic global needs - I think voluntary individual gifts, services, acts of kindness, etc., would be wonderful. They still can be.
But "volunteerism" is used to undermine and deny society's obligations to itself, by the worst examples of right-wing barbarians around. Look up Ronald Reagan's "volunteerism". Google George W. Bush's "thousand points of light". Then check into Barack Obama's empty rhetorical calls for individual citizens to dedicate themselves to "public service".
It's easy to recognize the ugly motives and consequences when it's Reagan or Bush preaching it - right? Well, our job is to recognize it when it ain't that easy too.
Once society and societies agree to do the heavy lifting, we can go back to individual giving.
Would you be surprised if I told you that Albertans were second in Canada for individual charitable donations, and Quebeckers were dead last? And that both of them paled to nothing in comparison with citizens of the U.S.?
No, this doesn't prove a single thing about the "generosity" of the populations concerned. It says a great deal, however, about the relative generosities of their societies.